You Need to Make This Decision to Achieve Your Dream
“The universal truth is beyond question — the only people who excel are those who have decided to do so. Great doctors or speakers or skiers or writers or musicians are great because somewhere along the way, they made the choice.” -Seth Godin
Forgot talent, skill, or luck, the fundamental decision needed to achieve your dream is to make the choice and chase it.
This might seem like an obvious step to achieving your dream, but it’s where most go wrong.
Most people have dreams. But they aren’t making them a reality because they haven’t made the conscious choice to chase their dream.
“Most people will continue getting high on the dopamine of solely “dreaming” and journaling about their ideal life, without ever doing any meaningful work to make those goals happen.” -Anthony Moore
The Dream Myth
Sure, everyone will always tell you, “Follow your dreams!” But no one actually believes in this notion, nor do they believe you’ll achieve them.
As a wider society, most people have bought into the myth that dreams will only ever be dreams — that they’ll be nothing more than a fragmentation of ones imagination.
“While we occasionally celebrate the outliers, the mythological gods of our culture, it is always with the understanding that they are not us. You can be a fan of Price, Leonard Berstein, or lady Gaga, but the rule is that you must understand that you have no chance of becoming them” -Seth Godin, The Icarus Deception
Heck, up until about a year ago that was me too. Drifting through life with no purpose, settling for mediocrity at every turn, thinking that extremely successful people just got lucky — that they were born with the talent and skills to be successful.
Boy, was I wrong.
But it’s that sort of mindset which keeps the myth alive.
The good news? You don’t have to live that fairy-tale.
Wake Up and Chase Your Dream
“When you wake up in the morning you have two choices: go back to sleep, or wake up and chase those dreams.” -Unknown
Those same dreams you dream at night, they can be seen when you're awake.
Anything’s within reach, extremely successful are no different to anyone else. They’ve made their dream a reality because they ceased the chance and went after it.
Don’t believe me? How about from the words of prolific actor, Will Smith:
“Greatness is not this elusive, esoteric, godlike feature that only the special among us will ever taste. It is something that truly exists in all of us.” -Will Smith
There’s no reason to not wake up and chase your dream. No point in saying “someday,” someday I will do this, someday I’ll be ready to take life into my own hands and cease everything I’ve ever dreamed of.
Life is already in your hands, and “someday” never comes.
“If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved.” -Maurice Chevalier
I’m not ready to write this piece, I’m not ready to hit publish. Everyday I write I’m scared, but I do it anyway.
I do it because when you wake up day after day and make the choice to chase your dream, someday you just might wake up to find yourself living that dream.
Think of Your Future Self
In the words of serial entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk:
“I have no understanding as to why, when you’re 18 to even, let’s say 30, why you wouldn’t try to make what you’re passionate about work for you…If you go and become a lawyer or go to school and do all the things that everybody wants you to do, and don’t do the thing you really love, the real question isn’t what’s going to happen when you’re 23, 27, 31, 36. The question really becomes what’s going to happen when you’re 70 years old and you look back at your life and you’re like, Why didn’t I try? There’s going to be a regret factor that I think a lot of times a guidance counselor or parent or teacher tend not to think about…They’re worried about your next ten years. I’m worried about your last ten years. And in those last ten years, you’re going to be thinking back…and realizing, Why didn’t I go to Austin (or L.A. or Nashville…wherever you’re going)? Why didn’t I take a chance? and really regret that. And that-that tastes a lot worse than going for it, because that’s when you’re most alive.”
Who knows where you could end up if you just made the choice and went after your dream.
Think of your future self. Would you be content during your last days on earth knowing this realization, but you didn’t try to make it happen?
That’d likely be a tough thought to swallow. Gary Vaynerchuk hit the nail on the head there when he said: “There’s going to be a regret factor.”
But you don’t have to live with that.
If you just make the choice to chase your dream for all you’ve got. Regardless of where you end up, you’ve already removed that regret factor. Because you’ll know deep down, you followed your heart and went after what you wanted.
Your future self will thank you for that.
In Conclusion
If you've got a dream, chase it!
Forgot that you'll stand out. Forget the opinions of others, because at the end of the day, it’s your choices that will shape who you are tomorrow, a year from now and still, 20 years from now. Not anyone elses!
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” -Walt Disney
